Category Archives: Legislative Developments

In an effort to address the problem of excessive, multiple punishment, the Florida Legislature enacted a statute that “punitive damages may not be awarded against a defendant in a civil action if that defendant establishes, before trial, that punitive damages …

In 2015, West Virginia enacted a statute that caps punitive damages at the greater of $500,000 or four times the compensatory damages. We blogged about the statute here, explaining that the West Virginia legislature was seeking to reform the …

About a month ago, we reported on a Delaware trial court decision reducing a $75 million punitive award to $7.5 million in a transvaginal mesh case. Last week, in what we believe to be the first appellate decision in one …

West Virginia long has been at or near the top of the Chamber of Commerce’s and American Tort Reform Association’s lists of judicial hellholes. Last month, the State took a big step toward changing its image, enacting a series of …

In mid-January, Senator Patrick Leahy (Dem. Vt.) proposed—again—legislation that would prevent businesses from deducting from taxable income any punitive damages they have paid during the relevant tax year.

Last week, in Lewellen v. Franklin, the Missouri Supreme Court sharply restricted the reach of the State’s punitive damages cap statute, which limits punitive damages to the greater of $500,000 or five times the compensatory damages. The court reasoned …

As readers undoubtedly are aware, concerns about upward spiraling punitive awards have prompted many state legislatures to enact caps on punitive damages. The plaintiff bar’s first line of attack on such statutes has been to challenge them under various provisions …

The threat of large punitive damages awards is particularly acute for businesses, large and small. Like many of its counterparts in other states, the Montana legislature sought to relieve businesses of the unpredictability and hydraulic pressure to settle created by …

Whenever a state high court agrees to consider whether a punitive award is excessive, it is big news. So we were pleased to see the Wisconsin Supreme Court making some good news when it reduced the punitive damages award from …